MLS

LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo 'looking forward to' busy MLS schedule

Updated Mar. 17, 2023 10:31 a.m. ET

Editor's Note: MLS Footnotes takes you inside the major talking points around the league and across American soccer.

After becoming the first team in more than a decade to win both the MLS Cup and the Supporters Shield as regular season champions last year, Los Angeles Football Club's players and coaches don't mind having to wait an extra week before beginning the defense of both titles.

LAFC's highly anticipated season opener — against crosstown rivals LA Galaxy in front of more than 70,000 fans at the Rose Bowl — was postponed because of inclement weather, meaning Steve Cherundolo's team will begin their 2023 slate this Saturday at home against the Portland Timbers (4:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

"It hasn't been difficult at all," Cherundolo told FOX Sports Tuesday when asked about the delay. "For all of us involved in pro sports, you become accustomed to dealing with the unexpected, and so we did exactly that. We've moved on. We're physically and mentally prepared for Portland."

Having some additional time to prepare for what promises to be a marathon campaign probably isn't the worst thing. What would have been the first El Tráfico of the season has been rescheduled for July 4, when it will likely shatter the MLS single game attendance record of 74,479 that Charlotte set last year. (The Galaxy will host the first of three 2023 meetings with LAFC on April 16.) On the other hand, it puts another match smack in the middle of an already congested calendar.

Four days after Saturday's contest, LAFC will be in Costa Rica to kick off the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League group stage against Alajuelense. And like all 47 American, Canadian and Mexican first division teams, the club will also compete in the expanded Leagues Cup tournament that will shut down both MLS and Liga MX for a month this summer.

With upwards of 60 potential games across all competitions, every MLS roster will have to be carefully managed. LAFC is deeper than most, but it's probably not realistic to think Cherundolo will be able to play his best lineup in every match.

"The priorities remain the same: to win as many games as possible," Cherundolo said. "We certainly have earmarked the Champions League games on our calendar. We're looking forward it. We see it as a privilege and an opportunity and not a burden, and we want to field the strongest team possible and go as far as we can in that competition."

There's really no reason they can't. Despite losing 12 players — including high quality attackers Cristian Arango, Gareth Bale, Latif Blessing and Cristian Tello — this winter, most of the squad now knows Cherundolo's system inside out. For all their success last year, it was also the coach and much of his staff's maiden season. Now there's an established culture in place — not to mention a championship pedigree – that should help LAFC to hit the ground running.

Among the offseason recruits are U.S. men's national team center back Aaron Long, German-American midfielder Timothy Tillman (brother of the USMNT's Malik) and 20-year-old Croatian forward Stipe Biuk. More newcomers are likely to follow when the summer transfer window opens.

"Looking back to last year, we built a pretty solid foundation moving into this season," Cherundolo said. "We can now build on that and not have to go over the fundamentals. We can work on more details and get stronger in tactical areas to keep other teams on their toes."

Starting with Portland on Saturday.

MLS FOOTNOTES

1. Playoff dreams alive in Portland

The two Los Angeles teams weren't the only ones to have their opener pushed back. Portland's curtain raiser against Sporting Kansas City was moved to Monday due to weather; the Timbers eventually beat SKC 1-0 on fullback Juan David Mosquera's early strike:

Getting off to a winning start was crucial for the Timbers after Gio Savarese's side missed the postseason in 2022. It was Portland's first playoff miss in six years — a span that included two MLS Cups trips and the MLS is Back Tournament title in 2020. Savarese, who became the club's winningest MLS coach with the victory, will be under pressure to ensure the club doesn't fall short again in October.

2. Sounders shake off Club World Cup heartbreak

Around 175 miles up I-5, Seattle trounced Colorado 4-0 in their first MLS match of 2023. USMNT pair Cristian Roldan and Jordan Morris (two) combined for three of the four goals, while former New York City FC forward Héber had the other in his Sounders debut.

Seattle's fast start in league play should ease any worries of a hangover following the club's trip last month to Morocco for the FIFA Club World Cup, where the Sounders missed out on a semifinal date with eventual champ Real Madrid in heartbreaking fashion. Seattle missed the playoffs last fall for the first time in 14 seasons in MLS.

The conventional wisdom was that they simply ran out of gas following their successful early season push to become the first American team to win the CONCACAF Champions League. Despite an aging roster — playmaker Nicolás Lodeiro will be 34 later this month while goalkeeper Stefan Frei turns 37 in April — the opener suggests that a repeat isn't likely. The Sounders look like a squad with something to prove this year.

3. Who says you can't go home again?

New York native James Sands is headed back to the Big Apple; the Pigeons announced on Wednesday that they'd reacquired the defender/midfielder from Scottish power Rangers and signed him to a five-year contract. Sands helped NYCFC win the 2021 MLS Cup before moving to Glasgow the following January.

The 22-year-old played 27 games across all competitions for Rangers this season, including four in the group stage of the vaunted UEFA Champions League. He also has seven caps for the U.S.

4. Saturday's great slate

After LAFC-Portland ushers in Week 2, 13 other games are slated for Saturday night. Atlanta United's trip to Toronto feels like a must-watch because of World Cup winner Thiago Almada, who was named MLS player of the week on Monday after the Argentine winger single-footedly overturned the Five Stripes' 1-0 stoppage time deficit to San Jose last weekend. Meantime, TFC needs a victory after dropping its opener at D.C. United.

Inter Miami's match against the visiting Philadelphia Union is another potential Eastern Conference final preview, but best of the rest Saturday is surely St. Louis City's inaugural home game versus Charlotte inside a packed Citypark. Widely considered the birthplace of the American game, that occasion has been decades in the making for The Lou.

Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports, and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.

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